Armenia warns of risk of escalation after Aliyev’s explicit territorial claims

YEREVAN, JANUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. There is a risk of escalation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said Tuesday.

“I think that there’s a risk of escalation even at this moment,” FM Mirzoyan said at a press briefing when asked whether the likelihood of tensions would grow during the U.S. presidential elections and the EP elections, when international partners will be focused on domestic agenda. “At least the rhetoric we’ve witnessed in the Azerbaijani president’s interview doesn’t allow us to be off guard, not even for a second.”

FM Mirzoyan said that the Azeri President Ilham Aliyev, in his interview, made explicit territorial claims against the sovereign territory of Armenia.

“We saw them call various Armenian cities and provinces with distorted names, and they called nearly the entire territory of the Republic of Armenia as Western Azerbaijan. There’s always likelihood of escalation. Would this likelihood grow during ongoing elections in various countries? I think it would be rational not to think that way,” he said.